I 14 nations took part in the rebirth of the ancient games with Greece, Germany, France and Britain sending the largest teams. Owing to its historical significance, the hosts wanted to win the marathon more than any other event and 100,000 fans roared on Spyridon Louis as he took the lead two and a half miles from the finish and went on to win for the home nation.

1900 Paris

MAY 14 -OCTOBER 28

Ii The first of seven consecutive Olympiads whose events were spread out over months, Paris also saw women compete for the first time with Mrs Brohy and Miss Ohnier of France in croquet being the first of 22 members of the fairer sex to take part (right), although they were rather outnumbered by the 975 male competitors. Alvin Kremlin (USA) was the Games' star, winning the 60m, 110m hurdles, 200m hurdles and long jump.

1904 St Louis

JULY 1 -NOVEMBER 23

Iii The first Games to present gold, silver and bronze medals witnessed the debut of boxing and decathlon but also the most audacious attempt to cheat the Olympics has ever known. Thomas Hicks of the USA won the marathon but only after fellow American Fred Lorz was thrown out of the competition after it was revealed he had covered almost the entire distance in a car, leaping out just before the finish.

1908 London

APRIL 27 -OCTOBER 21

Iv More than 2,000 athletes headed for London when Rome had to pull out because money was needed in Italy to rebuild Naples after Vesuvius erupted in 1906. The marathon distance was changed from 25 miles to 26 miles 385 yards so that it could begin in Windsor and finish under the royal box in front of Princess Mary. For the first time, a stadium was purpose-built for the Games (White City, right).

1912 Stockholm

MAY 5 -JUNE 27

V Athletes from all five continents competed for the first time while automatic timings on the track, the photo finish and PA system also debuted. But it was a native American called Brightpath (competing under his western name of Jim Thorpe) who shone, winning the pentathlon and decathlon by huge margins. King Gustav declared him 'the greatest athlete in the world' but he was subsequently disqualified for being a professional.

1920 Antwerp

APRIL 20 -SEPTEMBER 12

Iv The sixth Olympiad should have been staged in Berlin in 1916 but was cancelled because of the Great War. Antwerp was awarded the next Games as a mark of respect for the suffering visited on the Belgian people during the war. The Olympic Flag appeared for the first time and Antwerp also marked the first time the athletes took the Olympic Oath and the first time the doves of peace were released.

1924 Paris

MAY 4 -JUNE 27

Viii Paris staged the first closing ceremony but the games also became famed for what happened on the track. Finland's Paavo Nurmi not only won five golds, he won two of them (1500m and 5000m) in the space of 55 minutes. Future Tarzan film star Johnny Weissmuller won two gold medals in the pool and these were also the Chariots of Fire Games, featuring Eric Liddell (right).

1928 Amsterdam

MAY 17 -AUGUST 12

Ix As each Games tried to introduce something new which would last, Amsterdam brought us the Olympic flame. Also Greece entered first at the opening ceremony and the Netherlands last and this originators-first, hosts-last routine has been used ever since. What has not been repeated was the story of rower Henry Pearce who stopped to let a family of ducks cross his boat in the quarter-final but was still good enough to recover to win the race and the gold.

1932 Los Angeles

JULY 30 -AUGUST 14

X Los Angeles reduced the Games to 16 days and it has stayed between 15 and 18 since. LA 1932 also gave us the Olympic Village and the medal podium with flags being raised. The true spirit of the Games was best displayed by British fencer, Judy Guinness, who could have won gold had she not pointed out to the judges two scoring strikes by her opponent, Austria's Ellen Preis, which the panel had failed to spot.

1936 Berlin

AUGUST 1 -AUGUST 16

Xi Adolf Hitler's idea to promote his Aryan supremacy views backfired spectacularly when American black athlete Jesse Owens became the star with four gold medals. Lost in the Hitler-Owens story are other facts about the 11th Games - they produced the youngestever female gold medallist (Marjorie Gestring, USA, 13) and the youngest-ever medallist (Inge Sorensen, Denmark, 12). It was also the first Games on TV.

1948 London

JULY 29 -AUGUST 14

Xiv The War caused the 12th Games (1940 Tokyo) to be cancelled and forced the postponement of the 13th (London 1944), but Britain did host in 1948 and, despite war damage, put on a superb show. Bob Mathias of the US became the youngest male to win an athletics event, taking gold in the decathlon aged just 17.

1952 Helsinki

JULY 19 -AUGUST 3

Xv Israel and the Soviet Union entered the Games for the first time and while the Soviets would stamp their mark on the Olympics from then until the country's breakup, it was a future Soviet bloc athlete who was the star in Helsinki. Czechoslovakia's Emil Zatopek (right) first won the 5,000m, followed that with the 10,000m title and then completed a remarkable clean sweep by taking gold in the marathon - a unique treble which stands to this day.

1956 Melbourne

NOVEMBER 22 -DECEMBER 8

Xiv The Olympics moved to the southern hemisphere although technically the Games were shared with Stockholm as Australia's quarantine laws meant the equestrian events were staged in June in Sweden. Frenchman Alain Mimoun, having lost three times in the Olympics to Emil Zatopek, finally beat him in the marathon.

Out of respect, Mimoun waited at the finishing line to greet his friend and adversary, who came in sixth.

1960 Rome

AUGUST 25 -SEPTEMBER 11

Xvii Abebe Bikila became the first black African Olympic champion when he ignored the derision of fans to run barefoot - and win - the marathon. But it was another black Olympic gold medallist who was to leave the longestlasting impression on the Games as America's Cassius Clay (right) triumphed in boxing's light-heavyweight division before becoming more famous as Muhammad Ali.

1964 Tokyo

OCTOBER 10 - OCTOBER 24

Xviii Tokyo had the sense of a new dawn. These were the first Games held in Asia and the carrier of the flame, Yoshinori Sakai, was chosen for significance - he was born 19 years earlier on the day the Allies dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. It was a tribute to the victims and a call for world peace. There were changing times in competition too, as a cinder running track was used for the last time and a fibreglass vaulting pole for the first time.

1968 Mexico

OCTOBER 12 -OCTOBER 27

Xix The high-altitude venue witnessed some of the Olympics most famous moments. Bob Beamon stunned the world with a record long jump of 8.90m, a mark which stood for 23 years. Dick Fosbury introduced the world to a strange back flip in the high jump and the Fosbury Flop has been the standard since. Tommie Smith and John Carlos made Black Power fists on the rostrum (right), protesting US racial segregation. Drug testing on winners was also introduced.

1972 Munich

AUGUST 26 -SEPTEMBER 11

Xx September 5 was the darkest day in Olympic history as Black September group terrorists stormed the Olympic Village, killing two Israeli athletes and taking nine hostage. All the hostages were killed, along with five terrorists and a policeman. The Games resumed 34 hours later and made stars of America's Mark Spitz, who won seven golds and broke seven world records in the pool, and of Russia's Olga Korbut who wowed the world in gymnastics.

1976 Montreal

JULY 17 -AUGUST 1

Xxi The first of three consecutive Games involving mass boycotts as 22 African nations stayed away to protest a New Zealand rugby tour of apartheid South Africa. In the gym, Romania's Nadia Comaneci scored the first-ever perfect 10 on the bars. Britain, led by Jim Fox (left), also took gold in the team event in the modern pentathlon. It meant glory for Fox at his fourth consecutuve Olympics.

1980 Moscow

JULY 19-AUGUST 3

Xxii Black Power, Black September, apartheid and now a US-led boycott over Russia's invasion of Afghanistan. The Olympics had become highly politicised. Only 80 countries attended, down from 92 in Montreal and 121 at Munich. Britain's Steve Ovett beat Sebastian Coe for the 800m but the tables were turned in the 1500m as Coe romped home. In the USA's absence, Coe and Ovett's team-mate Allan Wells blasted his way to the fastest man crown.

1984 Los Angeles

JULY 28 -AUGUST 12

Xxiii Having wrecked Russia's Games, the US was the subject of a Soviet-led boycott four years later. Montreal's financial woes in 1976 meant Los Angeles won an uncontested bidding process. Organiser Peter Ueberroth devised a profit-yielding model which became the template for future events. Carl Lewis won the same four gold medals as Jesse Owens in 1936 in a tournament which gave rebirth to the Games.

1988 Seoul

SEPTEMBER 17 -OCTOBER 2

Xxiv Having come through all the political Games, the return of the Olympics to Asia was a huge success but will always be remember for one word - Stanozolol. Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson had won the world title in Rome the previous year. Now he beat Carl Lewis (left) for the 100m gold only to be stripped of his medal when he tested positive for the anabolic steroid. It sparked the era of suspicion and the war against drug cheats.

1992 Barcelona

JULY 25 -AUGUST 9

Xxv The end of apartheid and the fall of the Berlin Wall saw a new era in the Olympics as Spain began the Games by lighting the flame with a Spanish archer (who missed) and ended them with renewed hope. Ethiopian Derartu Tulu won the 10,000m then waited at the finish line for white South African Elana Meyer. The pair then ran a victory lap to symbolise a new dawn for Africa.

1996 Atlanta

JULY 19 -AUGUST 4

Xxvi Muhammad Ali, who was struggling with Parkinson's disease, made an emotional appearance to light the flame at a tournament which controversially had been awarded to America so soon after Los Angeles. At the beginning of the second week, one person was killed by a terrorist bomb in the Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. Michael Johnson became the first man to win the 200m and 400m, running a record 19.32secs in the 200.

2000 Sydney

SEPTEMBER 15 - OCTOBER24

Xxvii Australia promised a Games like never before and certainly on the fireworks front, it delivered. They also attempted to address Australia's aboriginal issue. Cathy Freeman, an aboriginal, was handed the honour of lighting the Olympic flame. Ten days after she carried the torch, Freeman (right) stormed to the gold medal in the 400m, roared on by a delirious home crowd.

2004 Athens

AUGUST 4 -AUGUST 29

Xxviii The Games returned to their spiritual home but in the 108 years since the first modern Olympics, they had leapt from 14 competing nations to 201. Swimmer Michael Phelps dived into into the record books as he won six gold medals and became the first person ever to take home eight medals from one Olympiad. Britain's hero was Kelly Holmes, who took a shock gold double in the 800m and 1500m.

2008 Beijing

AUGUST 8 -AUGUST 24

Xxix The emergence of China as a sporting power saw it figure highly on the medal table for years but its new-found status as a world financial player gave it the confidence to host the greatest event. Phelps stole the show again as he won eight gold medals in a Games where 130 Olympic records and 40 world records fell. Usain Bolt also arrived as he won three golds and broke 100m and 200m world records.